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Petama Forum May 'Will-Power' from Hazrat Inayat Khan: 'Art of Personality' |
Will-power plays a great part in character-building. And the will-power becomes feeble when a person yields to every little tendency, inclination, and fancy he has; but when a person fights against every little fancy and tendency and inclination he learns to fight with himself, and in this way he develops willpower. When once a person's inclinations, fancies, and tendencies have grown stronger than his will-power, he experiences in his life several enemies existing in his own self, and he finds it difficult to combat them. For inclinations, fancies, and tendencies, when powerful, do not let will-power work against them. If there is any such thing as self-denial, it is this practice; and by this practice in time we attain to a power which may be called mastery over ourselves. In small things of everyday life we neglect this consideration because we think: ‘These are my tendencies, my fancies, my inclinations, and by respecting them I respect myself, by considering them I consider myself.’ But we forget that what we call ‘my’ is not ourselves, it is what wills that is ourselves. For that reason in the Christian prayer it is said, ‘Thy Will be done,’ which means, ‘Thy Will when it works through me’; in other words, ‘my will which is Thy Will, be done.’ It is this illusion of confusing our possession with ourselves that creates all illusion and keeps a human being from self-realization. Life is a continual battle. A human being struggles with things that are outside him, and so he gives a chance to the foes who exist in his own being. Therefore the first thing necessary in life is to make peace for the time being with the outside world, in order to prepare for the war which is to be fought within ourselves. Once peace is made within, we will gain by that sufficient strength and power to be used through the struggle of life within and without. Self-pity is the worst poverty. When someone says, ‘I am...’ with pity, before he has said anything more he has diminished himself to half of what he is; and what is said further, diminishes him totally; nothing more of him is left afterwards. There is so much in the world that we can pity and which it would be right for us to take pity upon, but if we have no time free from our own self we cannot give our mind to others in the world. Life is one long journey, and the further behind we have left our self, the further we have progressed towards the goal. Verily when the false self is lost the true self is discovered. A learned man without will power is like a head without a body.
Gayan - Boulas (these E-book are free of all charge - use their treasures well!) |
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